


Sweet as Sugar

by Sociallyawkwardwriter



Category: Eurovision Song Contest RPF, Festival di Sanremo RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Bakery, Fluff, M/M, Romance, Short & Sweet, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-09
Updated: 2019-02-09
Packaged: 2019-10-25 01:24:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,007
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17715392
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sociallyawkwardwriter/pseuds/Sociallyawkwardwriter
Summary: Ermal hates sweets and yet he visits the bakery every day. Of course, he only does this to please his best friend. Or maybe, it has something to do with the handsome, tattooed baker?





	Sweet as Sugar

**Author's Note:**

> This is just straight up fluff inspired by the wonderful mood board done by @misograce over on tumblr, please take a look!
> 
>  
> 
> [ Metamoro Bakery Aesthetic ](http://misograce.tumblr.com/post/182618841888/metamoro-bakery-aesthetic-in-which-fabri-owns-a)
> 
>  
> 
> Thank you Miri, for allowing me to use your idea!

Ermal hated sweet things with a passion. Just the thought of it sent a shiver down his spine. And out of all the sweet things, baked goods were the worst.

They were sticky to the touch and sometimes so sweet, he felt as if his mouth would implode.

That was why he absolutely could not explain why he was currently stuffing his face full of some chocolatey pastry, the sweet cream heavy on his tongue and the powdery sugar sticking to his fingers

Or well, he could, it was just not a very good explanation.

"You're staring again."

"Huh?"

Silvia giggled before she took another bite from her fruit tart.

"You're staring at him again. It's okay, it's cute."

Ermal could feel his cheeks heating up, hiding his face behind the cup of latte macchiato. Unsweetened, of course, otherwise his body probably wouldn't be able to take it. He couldn't help himself and still shot another look towards the counter. Thankfully, the object of his attention seemed to be preoccupied, so he could look at him to his heart content, how those strong hands were kneading the dough quite forcefully, flour streaks marring that strikingly handsome face and no, Ermal was definitely not thinking about what those hands could do in another context.

The muscles under that tight white shirt flexed, as the man continued to work on what seemed to become some sort of bread, the hands now almost tenderly forming it. Unconsciously, Ermal's tongue came out to lick over suddenly too dry lips, his own fingers twitching, earning to touch.

"Are you done?" Again, Silvia's voice pulled him back into reality, the half-eaten pastry still sitting on its plate in front of him. He looked at her in confusion, so she just rolled her eyes at him, tapping impatiently against the screen of her phone.

"We really need to go now, or we gonna be late." "Oh yeah, of course." He held out his plate towards her. "You want?" "Yeah, sure." He looked on in horror as she stuffed the whole half of the pastry in her mouth at once, only a little white dust marring her lips. When she noticed his look, she grinned at him smugly, slowly chewing the sweet dough with a challenging look in her eyes.

"I will never understand how you can just… do that." He shook his head and grabbed his bag, downing the last of his drink. He took their plates and cups, putting them on a small table near the counter, his mind already on the interview with the musician he and Silvia were supposed to prepare for this afternoon.

"Thank you."

The deep voice made him look up in surprise, his heart beating faster, as the man who was just kneading was now suddenly standing next to him, looking at Ermal with a small smile on his lips.

Ermal's gaze wandered over arms that were obviously used to work and covered in colorful tattoos, the white shirt stretching over the man's chest until finally, beautiful brown eyes found his. His heart stopped for a moment, before starting again at an alarming rate.

"No problem", he mumbled, before turning around and hurrying after Silvia, his face burning.

Oh god, why did he have to be like this?

He bit his lip, quickly shaking his head. It was stupid thinking over a useless crush.

Work, he had to focus on work.

And surely, it was just his vivid imagination when he felt as if brown eyes were following him until the heavy door of the small cafe quietly fell into its lock again.

“There you guys are!”, Andrea greeted them right when they walked through the door, a loose bundle of papers in his hand. He seemed to be as stressed as always, but there was still a smile on his face. “You’re almost late.”  

Ermal pointed warningly at him, a smug grin on his face. “Almost.”

“Were you eating sweets again?”

Ermal groaned while Silvia enthusiastically clapped her hands.

“Yesss! They were so good!”

Andrea laughed at them when Ermal shuddered dramatically.

“Don’t remind me.”

“I don’t get it, why do you even go with her if you hate it so much?”

“I have my reasons.”

“Yes, and they’re dark-haired, about 1,80 m tall, covered in tattoos and have the prettiest eyes in the whole of Rome.”

His bag landed with a dull thud on the floor as he glared at Silvia, who only blinked at him innocently before making herself at home at her workspace, her laptop starting up with a high-pitched whirring.

“Oh come on”, Andrea chuckled leaning against their desk. “He can’t be that hot.”

“He is.” Ermal started to blush when he realized that maybe his reply came a bit too quickly and too strongly when both his friends turned to him with raised eyebrows.

“Shut up”, he grumbled, hiding his face behind the screen, glaring at the blue background.

“Well”, Andrea said with a huff, pushing himself off the table. “I’ll leave you alone then, you have work to do.” He waved as he started to leave their space through the narrow corridor, but turned around one last time.

“Oh, and Ermal? You’re so cute when you blush.”

Andrea’s cackling echoed after him, as Ermal greeted his words appropriately with his middle finger. He couldn’t wait for this day to be over. And if he dreamed once or twice about strong, tattooed arms wrapping around his body? Well, that was nobody’s business but his own.

Finally, after what felt like definitely more than eight hours, he put the last sentence on his paper and saved the document. With a sigh, he closed all programs, shooting a look at the clock on their wall. Silvia should have been back by now, they had promised to meet up for a quick chat at their favorite bakery after work.

The vibration of his phone made him look down, a new message from his friend waiting for him. He sighed when he saw that she would be late, deciding to go ahead without her, shouldering his bag and shooting her a short message to say he would wait for her at their usual table.

It was only when he stood in front of the dark green door when he realized what this actually meant. Oh God. He was going to be alone with _him_. Well, not _alone_ alone, but bad enough. No Silvia to handle the conversation, to be the social buffer he so desperately needed sometimes.

He took a deep breath. He was a grown ass man. He could handle this. Another breath and with his heart beating double, he pushed the door open.

“Oh hello”, the baker greeted him with a smile so much sweeter than any of the deserts he sold. “Alone today?”

“Not for long.”

The man nodded in understanding, hurrying to the counter while wiping his hands on his apron.

“Would you already like to buy something?”

“Yeah, I’m just still undecided.”

There was a short silence, while Ermal stared at the pastry, trying to hide his disgust at the thought of any of these things ending up in his mouth.

Then the man cleared his throat, making Ermal look up at him questioningly. However, the man only stared at the counter in front of him, not even meeting Ermal’s eyes for a second. When he spoke, Ermal was surprised at how soft and unsure his voice suddenly sounded.

“We tried something… new. A new type of pastry. It’s savory.” Finally, the man raised his eyes and Ermal was again captivated by how beautiful he was.

“Really?”

“There is tomato, olives, different types of cheese…”

He cleared his throat again, awkwardly scratching his neck.

“I know you don’t really like sweet things, so this might be more to your taste”, he said, his voice so quiet, it was barely audible over the noises of the shop. Ermal looked at him in surprise, his heart jumping around like a rabbit on ecstasy.

“How did you know?”

And surely, Ermal was imagining things, because this man, this _hunk_ , this guy who he had been kinda crushing on for the last few weeks could not be blushing while talking to Ermal of all people, right?

“You always had this sour expression on your face while eating our pastries, at first I was wondering why you would be eating it if you didn’t even like it, but then I understood, of course, and oh wow, this must sound totally weird, but I’m glad?”, he finished as if asking a question, the red hue on his cheeks even more prominent now and Ermal had no idea what he had just been talking about, but he looked so _pretty_ while doing it!

Then his brain decided to catch up. Ermal felt his own face starting to heat. Oh my God. That sounded as if he knew that Ermal was only coming here because of him. Had he been that obvious? And he was… glad? Holy shit. He uselessly opened his mouth, but it was so dry, no words came out. He coughed awkwardly, before trying again.

“Well, I’m glad that you’re… glad.” Smooth, Ermal. But fuck it, this was his chance, he was not going to let his awkwardness ruin it. He cleared his throat again. He could do this. He could ask someone on a date, no problem. No problem at all. He could feel his hands starting to tremble. It really was now or never.

“I mean, if you would like to- “

“Your girlfriend is very lucky to have such an accommodating boyfriend.”

Ermal’s mouth closed with a clink, he felt like someone had just pulled a rug from under his feet. Never it was then.

“Who?”

The man frowned at him, his fingers twiddling with one of the towels.

“Your girlfriend? I mean, you guys look really cute together, I’m glad there are people like you around. It makes me kinda want to believe in love again, you know?” The man was avoiding his eyes as he talked, his fingers distractingly stroking over his short beard. Ermal was still at a loss for words, he couldn’t do anything but stare at the other man. So he was glad because he thought Ermal was in a loving relationship. He was glad because he thought that Ermal wasn’t single.

He was suddenly grateful for his awkwardness earlier, because boy, that would have been embarrassing. How could this have gone so wrong?

Ermal felt a building dread in his stomach, the heavy feeling making him lose his appetite. The silence was growing uncomfortably between them, but Ermal didn’t really know what to say, his throat closing off, making him almost choke. He quietly sighed when he felt a familiar, gentle hand on his arm; the relief making a cautious smile break out on his face.

A feeling that soon turned sour when he saw that wide smile and the dangerous glint in Silvia’s eyes. Shit, so she must have heard.

“Oh wow, Ermal!”, she said, her voice too loud and too saccharine. Ermal was pretty sure he wasn’t going to like what she would say next.

“I didn’t know you had a girlfriend! Why did you never introduce us?” Ermal glared at her but didn’t dare to say anything, her nails threateningly digging into the soft flesh of his arm.

“Oh!” The sound was so soft, Ermal thought he might have imagined it, but when he looked up, he saw the baker watching them, his face contorted into an embarrassed grimace.

“So you two aren’t…?”

“Oh my gosh, you meant me?” Really? Ermal tried to suppress an eye roll. Unsuccessfully. Silvia deserved an Oscar for this performance.

“Nooo, we’re just very good friends and colleagues. We always come here because I love your food and the radio station where we work is quite close.”

“Oh, yeah. I know that one.” The man bit his lip, looking at Ermal from under his eyelashes, and fuck, if that didn’t hit all of Ermal’s buttons. He must have stared a bit too obviously, as an elbow connected not very gently with one of his ribs, making him grit his teeth.

“I’m Silvia, by the way. And this is Ermal.” “Ermal?” And, oh wow. He could definitely get used to that voice uttering his name, deep and breathless and – ow! Silvia really needed to stop doing that.

“It’s Albanian”, he muttered automatically, so used to people asking that question.

“It’s beautiful. My name is Fabrizio.” Ermal almost melted. They smiled awkwardly at each other, Silvia’s smile shining brighter than anyone else’s.

“Well then, Fabrizio. Can I get one of your famous fruit cakes then?” Fabrizio laughed brightly at Silvia’s enthusiasm, carefully taking the sweet she was pointing at and placing it on one of the colorful plates, his tattooed hands handling the pastry oh so gently.

And it hit Ermal then. A piercing pain in his chest when he heard Silvia say that name, when Fabrizio showed her his brilliant smile. Oh God. He might be in deeper than he thought.

“So.” Fabrizio’s deep voice pulled him out of his panicking thoughts. “Would you like to try one of my new creations now?”

Ermal answered his gentle smile, his stomach swooping. “Sure. I’ll try the cheese ones, please.”

“Oh, you’re doing savory pastries now, too?” The delicious blush was back on Fabrizio’s cheeks, his gaze focused on cleaning the counter as he vaguely hummed in reply.

“Well, not everyone likes sweets.”

Silvia nodded seriously, but Ermal could see her lips twitch.

“Yeah, you’re right. I’m sure you’re getting a lot of those customers, right?”

And wow, Fabrizio could blush even more, who knew. The older man mumbled something unintelligible while hiding his face behind the huge baking trolley, going through the rows of baking trays, selecting several pieces of small treats. By the time he returned to the counter, his face had (unfortunately, if you ask Ermal) returned to its usual color.

“Here you go.” And Ermal hoped it wasn’t only his imagination that made the smile Fabrizio gave him seem a bit sweeter, a bit more honest than before. 

“Thank you…”, he thought for a moment while taking the plate, their fingers brushing for a split second. “Bizio.”

He didn’t wait for the other man to react, he couldn’t, instead, he quickly turned around and walked towards the table where Silvia was already sitting, enjoying her sweet treat with a blissful face.

He sat down noisily, the chair scraping over the linoleum, getting her attention.

“What are you doing here?” He looked at her incredulously, his eyes wide.

“We promised to meet up here to gossip about musicians like, half an hour ago, remember?”

She shook her head, continuing to eat her treat, completely disregarding his words.

“What I mean is what are you doing here right now? Shouldn’t you be making out behind a dumpster or something?”

Ermal scrunched up his nose.

“Why a dumpster?”

“Shut up, it’s romantic.”

“It’s really not.”

She sighed, her fork hitting the plate with a high-pitched clank.

“What is it? You’re interested in him, he’s interested you – “

Ermal snorted, taking the first bite out of one of the cheese treats and almost moaned.

“Hmm, these are really good.”

“Don’t change the subject.”

“No, come on, Silvia. Have you seen him? Why would someone like him be interested in me?”

“Because you’re funny. Your locks shake adorably when you laugh. Because you ate sweets even though you hate them, pulling a weird face with every single bite. You’re smart and gorgeous.”

Ermal’s heart was thumping in his throat, his hands slightly shaking as he stared at Silvia, unable to move. At Silvia, who hadn’t said a single word, just watching the scene in front of her with a gentle smile on her face.

Finally, Fabrizio came to stand beside him, Ermal cautiously daring to look up at him.

“And I really would like to know more about you.”

“Me too”, Ermal whispered breathlessly, he couldn’t quite believe this was really happening.

Fabrizio smiled at him then, but it was different than before, there was a confidence in it that made Ermal’s breath hitch and his heart miss a beat, but it still remained as sweet as ever.

“Would Friday evening work for you?”

“Sure.” And fuck, had his voice always sounded like that? But Fabrizio’s smile only grew wider, his hand casually coming up to rest on his shoulder.

“I’m looking forward to Friday then.”

“Me too.” Ermal just hoped that his brain had returned until then. Fabrizio quickly squeezed his shoulder then, before returning to the counter where a few students had gathered, waiting to be served.

Ermal stared after him, his mind still unable to process everything. Shit. He had a date with Fabrizio. When he turned back, he noticed Silvia looking at him with an indulgent smile.

“I’m so happy for you”, she whispered. He nodded at her silently, but he couldn’t quite tamp down the bright smile that refused to disappear from his face.

They continued to eat their treats with a comfortable conversation flowing between them until they had to leave, Silvia waving happily at Fabrizio, while Ermal took a step closer to the other man, not really wanting anyone to overhear their conversation.

“So I’ll be seeing you on Friday night then?”

“Only if you can convince Silvia to give up on her daily visits.”

“Yeah, so not happening.”

“Should I make something for you then?”

Ermal knew he must look like a lovesick idiot as he smiled at Fabrizio, but really, he couldn’t care less. How was this man even real?

“How very thoughtful of you, thank you.”

“Good. I’ll see you tomorrow then.”

“Yeah. See you tomorrow.”

And Ermal couldn’t resist then, bowing down slightly to press his lips gently against the corner of Fabrizio’s mouth, that he could feel curving up a second later.

He might develop a taste for sweet things after all.

**Author's Note:**

> So I hope you liked this short piece and I would be really happy if you could leave a kudos or a comment!


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